


Outside the Window

by ohmygoshcheese



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: But so is Reader, Fluff, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Tony Is A Dork, it's cute y'all, just real cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-19 19:41:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15517185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmygoshcheese/pseuds/ohmygoshcheese
Summary: Reader has a long day at work, but Tony Stark knows just how to make their migraine disappear.





	Outside the Window

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted on my tumblr, marvelously-written (I just created the blog!)  
> This silly little thing popped into my head when I had nothing to do at work. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

You sighed for the tenth time in as many minutes. You have plenty of work to be done – if you don’t do it, your boss will be on your ass in a heartbeat – but for some reason, your brain simply would not focus today. You weren’t sure if it was because of the juicy gossip happening in the cubicle next to yours; or perhaps the exquisite summer weather outside your window; or perhaps the fact that you had so much to do your brain decided doing none of it would be the best option. Either way, you were stressed. 

Heaving yet another sigh, you typed a few words in your document before allowing your brain a break for all the work it was suffering through. Outside, Manhattan gleamed in only the way an enormous, dirty city could. Your view consisted of nothing unusual, except for one particular building. Standing proud among all the plain skyscrapers and office buildings was none other than the Stark Tower. The large “A” decorating its exterior gleamed in the sun, looking pristine as usual.

You briefly wondered if you’d see Iron Man himself flying around on one of his routine checkups of his home. Sometimes, if you were lucky, he’d fly right past your window, giving you a quick break in the usual scenery of glass and grey metal.

“Are you zoning out again?” an exasperated voice broke your reverie, making you jump in your chair. Your boss stood in the entrance to your cubicle, looking annoyed.

“Sorry…” you mumbled, hurriedly typing some more on your document.

“Mhm. Well, try not to zone anymore. That’s due by noon,” he said, then left without so much as a wave goodbye.

“Ugh,” you said, dropping your head into your hands and massaging your temples. You’d only been here half an hour, and a headache was already forming. 

You looked up to search for your bottle of pain meds when a flash of red outside your window caught your attention. There, hovering right in front of your workplace and appearing to be staring straight into your window, was none other than Tony Stark himself. Or at least, you assumed he was there. His face was covered by his suit’s mask. 

You blinked several times. The suit was simply hovering there, unmoving. Getting nervous, you wondered if he could see you. If he could, should you wave? Was he even looking at you? It certainly seemed like it. But what would a millionaire want with a plain office worker?

Before your worries could get the best of you, however, he flew off. 

Of course. Silly you. There’s no way he was looking into your window. He probably noticed something was broken and was making a note to repair it. Or he paused to talk to someone. Either way, you were nothing to him. In all likelihood, he couldn’t even see you through the tinted windows. Mentally smacking yourself for being overly optimistic, you went back to writing.

The rest of the day passed in a haze. You somehow managed to get that document out to your boss just before noon, but the rest of the afternoon was filled with meetings that only ended when someone more important than you got sick of the arguing.

Wanting more than anything to face-plant into your bed, you trudged out of the office building, joining the throngs of workers heading home or out to dinner. Almost instinctively, you glanced up at Stark Tower, but it stood silent and empty as usual.

Shaking your head, you headed home.  
\---  
The next day, your alarm woke you up in the middle of a lovely dream. You were being held gracefully by Ironman as he soared through the sky. You felt weightless and laughed lightly as the wind blew through your hair. 

However, the bliss ended to the sound of a duck’s obnoxious quacking. Questioning why you ever chose that sound for your alarm in the first place, you dragged yourself out of bed to go through your morning routine.

Before you knew it, you were back at your desk, staring desolately at the pile of emails in your inbox from people who arrived at work way too early. “Why were you even here at 6:45?! I didn’t know the building was even open at that time…” you grumbled, reading about some sort of routine maintenance for the computers that was scheduled for the weekend. 

You only managed to comb through three different emails from three different people who all wanted something from you at the same time before you felt your sanity slipping. To avoid a downward spiral so early in the morning, you took a long sip of your coffee, burning your tongue, and glanced out the window. You almost spat your coffee back out.

Hovering outside your window yet again was Iron Man himself. This time he didn’t leave you any room to question his motives. He gave you a wave.

Your jaw dropped, and for a moment, you didn’t respond. His waving grew more frantic until he was swinging both arms in front of your window in order to make sure you were still breathing. Finally, you snapped out of it and gave him a tentative wave back. 

He seemed satisfied because he did a little spin in the air. Then, he pointed to you and then himself. You got the message immediately. He wanted you to watch him. You nodded, curiosity overtaking your confusion and shock at being noticed by Tony Stark.

Tony got himself into position, and you waited, not realizing you were holding your breath. Then, your jaw dropped a second time as Tony started doing cartwheels in midair.

You stared incredulously as the world famous Tony Stark did several stunts directly in front of your window. You giggled as he struck a pose at the end as if he were a gymnast at the Olympics who’d just completed their routine. You almost clapped for him before remembering you were still at work. Instead you opted to give him a big smile and thumbs up. Tony seemed happy with your response because he did one last loop-de-loop before waving at you and flying away. 

You watched him fly to Stark Tower until he was no longer visible, a smile never leaving your face. You returned to work in higher spirits, and even your boss’s scolding didn’t affect you as much as usual.   
You went to bed that night still thinking about the strange event. You felt bittersweet, sure that this was simply a one-time thing. Perhaps Stark had been bored and simply wanted some entertainment. Yes, you were positive today had just been an odd one, and things would return to normal tomorrow.  
\---  
How wrong you were. 

There he was again, tumbling through the sky in front of your window. This time he’d changed his routine somewhat, adding in newer, more complicated tricks. You briefly wondered how long it took him to come up with this. He struck another silly pose at the end and this time you actually clapped – only softly so as to not disturb your coworkers.

Suddenly, you had an idea. Grabbing the closest notebook and a sharpie, you scribbled down a number, 8.2, and held it up to the window for him to see. You couldn’t tell what his reaction was due to his mask, but he gave you two thumbs up and flew away.

The next day, he was back again, only this time he had a notebook of his own with him. He held it up for you, and you squinted at it until you made out the words: “Graceful Swan.” 

You frowned, not understanding what he meant. Tony, however, set the notebook on the window ledge and pointed to himself. Then you understood: he was giving his trick today a name. You laughed and settled back in your chair to watch the show. 

Tony really went all out for this trick. He performed several surprisingly graceful ballet moves in midair before flapping his wings like a bird. You giggled at how ridiculous the whole situation was: the Iron Man costume wiggling its arm to imitate flapping wings. At the end of the show, Tony posed like a bird ready to fight, arms out and a leg up. You laughed and wrote down his score: 9.5.  
Tony twirled happily before saluting you and zooming off back to his tower, leaving you to finish your work, a smile on your face.

This continued for several weeks. Tony never failed to show up right on time, notebook in hand with some goofy name and a seemingly carefully planned out choreography. You always scored his tricks, sometimes giving him terrible scores just to mess with him.

Tony never stayed long, always hurrying back to his tower, but you didn’t mind. After all, it was a miracle he even acknowledged your existence. You couldn’t imagine taking up any more of his time.  
However, your streak of happiness was soon broken. One day, Tony didn’t show up. You weren’t exceptionally worried. After all, you figured this would happen at some point. With all the press conferences he has to attend in addition to Avengers stuff, you were honestly surprised it hadn’t happened sooner. Still, you couldn’t help but miss him, your notebook remaining in its drawer for the day.

You didn’t stay unworried for long, though. A day turned into a week, and a week into two weeks. Still Tony hadn’t shown up. The news was eerily quiet about his whereabouts. Normally you’d hear about it if he even bought a new pair of socks. Now, however, there was nothing. And you were starting to get very worried.  
\---  
The start of the fourth week with no news of Tony began dismally. Dark clouds loomed in the distance, and the weather forecast warned of thunderstorms later in the day. Still, you arrived at work right on time and opened your email as usual.

Nothing immediately piqued your interest, so you took a sip of your coffee and spun around in your chair absentmindedly. As you were spinning, you glimpsed a familiar flash of red. You froze, and then spun back around to face the window.

There he was, hovering there as if he hadn’t missed a day. He waved and held up his notebook with the name of his trick on it.

You weren’t having it. How dare he act like nothing had happened! 

You slammed your coffee cup down on your desk and dashed out of your cubicle, leaving a very confused Tony Stark behind.   
You sprinted out of the office, your coworkers staring as you passed in a blur, down the stairs, across the lobby, and out the doors. A fierce wind from the approaching storm whipped around you, but you ignored it, yelling, “Tony Stark!!”

He hadn’t moved from his spot outside your window, and your voice seemed to startle him. But he floated down to where you were and landed in front of you.

You wasted no time. “How dare you disappear without telling me!”

His visor opened, so you could see the bemused look he was giving you. “What are you my babysitter now?”

You huffed and put your hands on your hips. “Shut up! I was worried! I know I’m probably no one to you except some entertainment to pass the day, but I still think you should’ve-“

“You’re not ‘no one.’”

“Don’t interrupt! I know I’m- wait, what?” your voice faltered as you registered what he’d said.

He moved closer to you, his helmet packing itself away to show his head completely. “You’re definitely not ‘no one.’ If you were ‘no one,’ you wouldn’t’ve gotten away with that 4.5 for my ‘Drunken Ballerina.’”

“It wasn’t your best work. The pirouette was sloppy,” you stated matter-of-factly.

“Do you know how hard it is to pirouette in midair? Besides, it was supposed to be sloppy. It’s called the ‘Drunken Ballerina,’” he retorted.

“Maybe so, but I still think you could’ve done better,” you smirked at him.

“Stingy,” he said, but he was smiling. “Anyway, you are someone, and I want to prove it to you. And make up for vanishing without warning.”

The implication of what he’d just said dawned on you, and you sincerely hoped he’d attribute the blush you felt creeping across your cheeks to the wind. Judging by the look on his face, he did not.

“Um, there’s a cool sushi place a couple blocks from here, if you like sushi? I get off at five,” you said, looking everywhere but his eyes.

“I’ll be here,” he said instantly. Then his mask covered his face again, and he took off into the darkening sky.

You watched him go and stood there even after he’d disappeared. Your heart was racing and you couldn’t believe what had just happened. Did you just score a date with the Tony Stark? Yes, yes you did. The first raindrops landed on your nose as you practically skipped back into the office. Thunderstorms, rude bosses, and annoying emails could never ruin your mood now. You had a date.


End file.
